Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

Uncertain whether to accept the throne, Boris has retreated to the monastery.

Outside, the people are ordered to beg him to become their Tsar. Shchelkalov, secretary to the Boyars’ council, announces that, at this time of great political crisis for Russia, Boris is still undecided.

The people themselves are divided on the merits of Boris.

Crowned as Tsar, Boris appears before the people.

Though filled with foreboding, he prays that he will rule with justice and mercy.

Pimen is beginning the final chapter of his chronicle of Russia’s turbulent history.

Grigory, a young novice, wakes from a recurrent dream in which he sees himself as a powerful dictator who falls to his death.

He confesses to Pimen how frustrated he is by the cloistered life of a monk.

Pimen reluctantly tells Grigory how he witnessed the supposed murder, on Boris’s orders, of the child Dmitry, the heir to the throne.

The boy, had he lived, would now be the same age as Grigory. Pimen hopes that after his death Grigory will continue the chronicle.

Alone, Grigory swears that Boris will be punished for his crime of murdering Dmitry.

Grigory has left the monastery and, disguised as a peasant, is trying to escape to Lithuania, where he hopes to raise an army against Boris by claiming to be Dmitry, the pretender to the throne.

To avoid suspicion, he is travelling with two itinerant monks. Border guards arrive with a warrant for the arrest of Grigory. He manages to escape.

Boris’s younger daughter Xenia laments the death of the Danish prince whom she was to have married. Boris tries to comfort her, and then encourages his son Fyodor to work hard at his studies.

Boris is consumed with guilt at the troubles assailing his country, convinced that God is punishing Russia for the murder of Dmitry.

Shuisky brings news that a pretender to the throne, claiming to be Dmitry, is mobilizing support in Lithuania for a march on Moscow.

Consumed with guilt at the murder of Dmitry and yet terrified that the child may somehow have survived to become the Pretender, Boris begs God’s forgiveness.

Boris is attending a service at which Grigory, who is claiming to be the pretender Dmitry, is denounced as a heretic.

Outside the people argue as to whether this Grigory can really be Dmitry the true Tsar. They know that Boris’s forces are being defeated and that Dmitry will soon reach Moscow.

As he leaves the cathedral, Boris is accosted by a simpleton who has just had his money stolen by a gang of children.

He begs Boris to murder the children just as he murdered Dmitry. Boris refuses to have the simpleton arrested, urging him instead to pray for him.

Members of the Boyars’ council gather for an emergency session to decide how to counter the threat of the Pretender.

Shuisky reports that he has witnessed Boris’s unbalanced mental state. Boris appears, tormented by visions of the dead child.

Shuisky urges Boris to admit Pimen, who has a story of great importance to tell him. The monk tells of an old blind man whose sight has been miraculously restored at the tomb of Dmitry.

Boris collapses and demands to be left alone with his son. He entrusts to Fyodor the throne of Russia and the protection of Xenia, warning him against his enemies. Still pleading for forgiveness, Boris dies.

© English National Opera